The Prime Minister promised Thursday that Ottawa will raise its share of health care costs, but with no commitment on when that will happen, the premiers left their meeting with Justin Trudeau skeptical and disappointed.
Premiers say the federal share of health care costs has been on a steady decline. Yet they left their day-long meeting with the Prime Minister with the sense that he was pushing off their call for a substantial increase to the Canada Health Transfer. At his own press conference, Mr. Trudeau said an increase is not an immediate priority.
“It’s going to be important that the federal government, as I said, steps up and increases its share of the cost of health care with the Canada Health Transfers, we are going to do that,” Mr. Trudeau said. “Our focus remains, right now, [on] getting through this pandemic.”
Quebec Premier François Legault, who chairs the group of premiers known as the Council of the Federation, said the premiers were “very disappointed.” Instead of talking about health transfers, Mr. Legault told reporters, the Prime Minister wanted to talk about targeted areas such as drug costs and long-term care homes.
The federal government struck new 10-year funding deals with the provinces and territories in 2016 and 2017. That deal kept Ottawa’s share of health care costs on a downward trajectory from 22 per cent now to what data show could be 20 per cent by 2025. The premiers asked for the video conference meeting with Mr. Trudeau to discuss increasing Ottawa’s share of the costs to 35 per cent. Mr. Legault said that would cost $28-billion in the first year.
Asked repeatedly to explain when the federal share of health care costs would increase, the Prime Minister dodged the question.
“Right now there is a lack of certainty of what our economic situation or even our health situation might look like in three months, let alone in three years,” Mr. Trudeau said.
He also signalled that any new money will be tied to conditions, such as better outcomes – something the premiers and some federal opposition parties have advocated against.
“We’ll also be talking about accountability and transparency for Canadians of new investments in health care,” Mr. Trudeau said.
The Quebec Premier said he and his colleagues spoke privately after the virtual meeting with Mr. Trudeau and agreed to stay united as they keep making their case for more cash in the court of public opinion. He added that while Ottawa is currently in deficit, most of that deficit spending is short term and argued that the federal government has the fiscal room to increase health transfers to the provinces over the long term.
Mr. Legault said the Prime Minister told premiers it was “premature” to discuss how Ottawa will increase its share of health care costs.
“We asked for another meeting in the end of January, beginning of February, and he refused,” he said.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said he interpreted Mr. Trudeau’s response to the premiers “as a firm ‘no.’ "
“Others may have hope,” he said. “It’s deeply dissatisfying.”
Mr. Pallister said Mr. Trudeau wanted to focus on funding targeted areas such as child care and pharmacare and was not supportive of the provinces’ calls for a major, permanent increase in the size of the Canada Health Transfer.
“It’s very, very clear that he is wanting to defer and postpone discussion on the fundamental, foundational issue of why the health care system is starting to fall apart, and it is,” said Mr. Pallister, adding that funding increases are needed to address core issues such as wait times.
In contrast, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Ottawa’s promise to address an issue that he said dates back from long before the pandemic.
The federal government acknowledged it needs to spend more money on the delivery of health care, Mr. McNeil said, adding that further discussion on the matter must take place at a “unified table.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement that the federal government didn’t accept the proposal from the premiers but also didn’t present a counteroffer “to address the long-standing and growing health care funding gap.”
Mr. Ford said the premiers asked for a clear answer from Ottawa no later than the spring budget.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan said in a statement that premiers “were hoping for more of a commitment from the federal government” on health transfers.
The federal government has tried to shift the premiers’ focus from their long-term budget pressures to the immediate needs of the pandemic response and the massive effort that will be demanded of all levels of government to successfully distribute and administer a complex combination of vaccines for COVID-19.
Canada has contracts for seven types of vaccines. The complexity of the planning to successfully roll them out is underscored by the unpredictable timing of regulatory approvals, unknown delivery dates, the need for three supply chains to transport and store the vaccines and the different intervals required between the first and second shots.
The first vaccine doses made by the German company BioNTech, in partnership with U.S.-based Pfizer Inc., will arrive in the next week, after Health Canada on Wednesday approved the vaccine. Another decision on a proposed vaccine from Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. is expected this month.
Mr. Trudeau repeated the point made often in the past few weeks by his government that the federal government is paying eight out of every 10 dollars spent on the country’s pandemic response. He announced Thursday that the federal government will create a pan-Canadian Vaccine Injury Support Program; however, the government has not said how much it will cost.
“Vaccines are safe and effective, serious side effects are incredibly rare. In the very unlikely event of an adverse reaction though, we want to make sure that Canadians have fair access to support,” Mr. Trudeau said.
With a report from Ian Bailey in Vancouver
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